Restoration Projects

1964 Triumph TR4 Restoration

Part 1: Familar TR4 Territory

This is a car we sold several years ago to a local client who had previously owned a Triumph TR4. At the time of the sale, the car was a driver but was in need of a restoration. After pondering the idea of restoring the car for some time, our client had decided it was time to pull the trigger. The car was solid, but like many TR4s, was in need of new floor boards and inner and outer sills. For this work we turned to Hank Van Gaale of SLO Works here in San Luis Obispo. SLO Works is a top fabrication shop here in town and luckily located right next door to us in downtown San Luis Obispo.

For the paint and body we turned to Ken’s Body Shop located here in town. Ken’s has been doing all of our paint and body for many years. Jeff and his crew at Ken's are very talented and take great pride in what they do. They stripped the car down to bare metal to ensure that the quality and longevity of the paint job would be as good as it possibly could. When it came to choosing the color, our client wanted to go with something a little different so he chose a metallic blue.

Part 2: Putting Things Back Together

Back at our shop, the blue metallic color started to look better and better as the car came together. We wired up the car and completed just about all of the bright work. We decided to do a chrome wire wheel conversion which really makes the car look sharp. We've also installed a completely new dashboard in the car which was quite a bit of work, but well worth doing. The next step was to get all the interior installed and give it a shake down. The client chose to go with a black vinyl interior which we were eager to get installed.

The final step in the restoration process was to get the upholstery fitted to the vehicle. Our client had requested seats with a head rest for safety reasons, so we chose to use an early TR6 seat that would bolt directly into place. We weren't sure how they would fit or look in the car, but once they were fitted, they felt and looked great just like they were made for the car.

Part 3: Success Is a Happy Client

With the car now completed, it's hard to imagine we started out with such a rusty old mess that didn't even run, and now we have a beautiful TR4 that runs and drives excellent. There were many challenges along the way with this vehicle, mostly due to the amount of rust repair that was needed. With a lot of effort, it was all taken care of correctly and you can't even tell any repairs were made. This TR4 looks and drives excellent and we and our client couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. We hope him and his wife experience many years of enjoyment from this beautiful Triumph TR4.

If you have any questions about this car or any other classic car restoration projects we have in the shop, we would love to hear from you. Make sure to visit our British Sports Cars Blog to get the most recent updates on what's going on in and around the shop, and to see all the photos from this project.